


A Funny Thing Happened On The Forum

by Xyl_3



Category: Glee
Genre: M/M, NYADA, Not Blaine or Klaine Friendly, Past Blaine Anderson/Kurt Hummel, kadam
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-06
Updated: 2017-08-31
Packaged: 2018-05-12 05:37:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5654407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xyl_3/pseuds/Xyl_3
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kurt meets Adam on the NYADA forums pre-showcase.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. You can pretend this is a oneshot

**Author's Note:**

> Title based on the Sondheim musical title "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum" which I have never seen and know next to nothing about.
> 
> Naming things is hard.

It's probably weird that Kurt had developed something of a crush on the guy telling him the ins and outs of his dream school. He does, at least, know that it is a guy he's talking to. He's older, and not a vocal major, but he's friendly and helpful and talking to him is a high point of Kurt's day.

 ~ 

They've been talking for a while now. Kurt had been busy while he was first applying, and then he'd been dejected after his initial rejection. But once he'd been in New York and known he was going to reapply, he'd gotten serious about learning about the school. If he got in for winter semester, he'd have to work twice as hard as the other students to catch up, and he'd take any advantage he could get.

He talked to more than just the one guy, of course, but AppleHead was the most friendly and helpful of his informants, and they'd slowly started to include bits of personal information in their correspondences. Plus, Kurt was single now, and trying his hardest to stop hurting from what Blaine did, and allowing himself a crush gave him something nice to focus on.

  

*

It was painfully awkward (not to mention just painful) when his dad brought Blaine to New York on the heels of his cancer confession. Kurt had worked hard to get back to a place of friendship, and he honestly thought they were heading in a good direction, but sharing his possibly dying father was the very last thing Kurt wanted to do with _anyone_ , much less his cheating ex-boyfriend. And then the NYADA bomb was just... Kurt needed space, he needed time, he needed something that could be _his_ and Blaine wasn't exactly letting him have any of that.

Blaine knew, hell, _everyone_ knew that Kurt would always put a good face on in front of his father. With his dad sick again, Kurt would be damned before he let anything less than perfect slip. So here he was having to agree with everything Blaine did or said, and feeling backed into a corner.

The last time he'd felt this disconnected from his dad had been when Burt and Finn had first started bonding. But Finn had become his brother and everything had worked out. Blaine wasn't his brother, he wasn't his boyfriend anymore, and they weren't really even back to best friends. He was just, to quote the song, somebody Kurt _used to know_ and it was physically painful to watch them pal it up in front of him.

 ~

Once the traditional Christmas basketball game was on, Kurt lasted 20 seconds before turning to Vogue, just like his dad had bet. It stung a little, not because his father was betting on him, but because he was betting on him with _Blaine_ and joking about it like Blaine belonged in their traditions.

He lasted about 15 minutes before he hid his phone behind his magazine and got online, which the other men didn't notice. It wasn't that he really expected AppleHead to be online on Christmas day, but even reading their old messages might make him feel better.

He was online though, and immediately responded to Kurt's faux-casual merry Christmas message. 

AppleHead: Happy Christmas back!

Porcelain: Hey! I didn't think you'd be online

AppleHead: Skyping with my mum and sis back home for the holidays.

AppleHead: Are you a Christmas Orphan like me?

Porcelain: I was expecting to be, but my dad flew in for Christmas!

Porcelain: But he brought my ex-boyfriend with him and I seem to be the only one feeling awkward about it :/

AppleHead: Wow, I'm suddenly much more grateful that my family is so far away!

AppleHead: Bad breakup?

Porcelain: He cheated on me because I was too busy during my first two weeks in New York to pay him enough attention.

Porcelain: I mean, we're trying to be friends but...

Porcelain: I'm maybe not actually over it?

AppleHead: Not to disparage your friends, but he sounds like an ass.

Porcelain: I think you're the first person that's actually said that

Porcelain: I mean, I normally don't tell people that much, but still

AppleHead: Well someone obviously needed to say it, so I'm glad you gave me the chance.

Porcelain: lol

Porcelain: Thanks.

AppleHead: My pleasure

 

Kurt flipped through a couple of pages in his magazine before another message came through.

 

AppleHead: My sister is trying to convince my mum and I that cake pops are the optimal dessert

AppleHead: I can't even begin to express how wrong she is

Porcelain: Obviously cheesecake is the best

AppleHead: I believe you mean fresh-baked cookies. Made with love

Porcelain: That's tempting. Definitely better than cake pops. But cookies made with love are not available at the shop on the corner at the end of a bad day, so I'm still voting cheesecake.

AppleHead: ...

AppleHead: I'll accept your argument even though you're wrong.

AppleHead: Cake pops, though. Where did we go wrong?

 

******

 

Getting into NYADA had been a whirlwind, and an unexpected one after Madame Tibideaux had basically told him he was annoying and trite.

He'd had time to send a quick "I got in!" to AppleHead, but their schedules hadn't lined up and there had only been a "Congratulations, welcome to NYADA!" waiting for him when he logged back in.

 

Now though, he had questions and AppleHead was online.

 

Porcelain: I'm thinking of joining the Adam's Apples, but my roommate says no on pain of death

AppleHead: You should do it!!!

AppleHead: Though I'm not the most objective on the matter

AppleHead: As I am, in fact, Adam.

Porcelain: No!

AppleHead: Yes?

Porcelain: No, I mean. Oh my gosh, I met you!

AppleHead: What?

Porcelain: On friday

Porcelain: I'm Kurt

AppleHead: THE Kurt Hummel?

Porcelain: Haha, don't even

Porcelain: But yes. I had no idea you were you!

AppleHead: In that case you should absolutely join!

AppleHead: I meant it when I said we needed you

AppleHead: And you're gorgeous when you laugh

 

The thing was, _Adam's_ gorgeous. And Kurt had been a little awed by him. And Adam had been dropping by with compliments throughout the week and making Kurt blush. But this was also the guy he'd had a weird internet crush on and had gotten to know and who he'd told things he normally wouldn't tell anyone. Suddenly he felt more worked up about talking to AppleHead, and yet more at ease about Adam in general.

Neither one of them were really strangers to him anymore.

 

Porcelain: You're right. I'll definitely join

AppleHead: Wonderful!

Porcelain: And, um, thanks

AppleHead: Good lad, you're very welcome

 

A flash of something went through him at that, and he suddenly remembered Rachel's advice to ask Adam out. He'd been planning to do it at one of their maybe chance meetings in the halls, but

 

Porcelain: Hey, Adam

Porcelain: Would you ever want to go out for a drink or coffee or something?

AppleHead: Yeah, that'd be great!

AppleHead: Just to clarify, as friends or as a date? It's a yes either way ;)

Porcelain: A date.

AppleHead: Wonderful! I can't wait

AppleHead: I have to run, but let me give you my number

 

Kurt was glad he'd managed this from the privacy of his own home, because he squealed in joy. (And, although he'll deny it to his dying day, may have also pumped his fist. It's not his fault he used to live with jocks.)

*


	2. I have no plan here

Adam didn't stop popping by between classes. He didn't stop being wonderful, and when they finally got to their date, Adam was a perfect gentleman and it felt like a first date, but also a little like the fiftyith.

Adam was almost playfully romantic. They ended up getting coffee just off campus and Adam took him to a place that he said had "good cheesecake just for you" with a wink. He brought a single flower (not a rose or anything, just a flower) in a little jar to "set the mood. Just a little something lovely for someone lovely."

It was just so easy to laugh with Adam. Conversation came easily. They jumped right in, and they already knew things about each other from online, but the topics were different and Kurt got to hear it all in that accent.

Kurt and Adam had things in common - things like NYADA, and New York, and great television, and hopeless siblings - but there was a lot more places they didn't overlap. Adam's focus was acting rather than musical theatre. Adam could dress himself, but knew almost nothing about high fashion, which had always been a passion of Kurt's. They were different ages and had grown up in different places, and they had a lot of talents and experiences the other didn't have.

Kurt knew he and Blaine had liked some different things (fight club and watching sports for Blaine and cars for Kurt) but they'd both loved fashion and Vogue, Gaga and Madonna, Glee and preforming and solos. They'd both gone to school at Dalton and McKinnley and been gay kids in Ohio. For better or worse, they'd chosen to ignore the parts of themselves that didn't match up.

Adam seemed fascinated by Kurt's interests. He was happy to listen and ask questions about fashion, cars, and pop icons. Kurt had hated the things Blaine liked - he had a moral objection to fighting and football hadn't been his thing even while he was on the team himself. Kurt found that he liked Adam's passions - baking, poetry, even his love of hip-hop and rap. (Getting to listen to his accent while he talked about them didn't hurt either.)

*

Dates with Adam were romantic in a way Kurt hadn't envisioned in a long time. They were unassumingly intimate; full of thoughtful gestures and completely devoid of showy statements. They planned some in advance, but between classes and work and roommate drama, they tended to just squeeze them in whenever an opportunity presented itself. Sometimes they grabbed coffee between classes. Sometimes they stayed after Apples practice to work on arrangements and they'd trade kisses between thoughts. Sometimes they'd just go home and watch tv or cook or do homework together instead of alone.

Adam had been somewhat discrete about their relationship on school grounds at first. Kurt hadn't realized since Adam was still around constantly and openly admiring and Kurt was coming from Lima where public displays of gayness were actively discouraged. After Midnight Madness and the resulting social fallout, however, it was obvious how much Adam had been holding back from publicly boyfriending on campus.

"I don't think I'm particularly insecure, mind, - at least not about this -" he'd explained when Kurt asked, "but my social standing is not quite to your level and I didn't want to damage your reputation without your full understanding."

After that, there was the occasional handholding and quick kiss in the hallways, and footsie in the library.

Adam was an artist and he loved singing, but his passion wasn't something that could wash out Kurt's own desires. Kurt wasn't proud of the fact that he needed someone that didn't outshine him, but he was honest enough to know he couldn't handle it so soon after everything with Blaine. Adam gave him that reassurance without actually being unimpressive. Adam liked the nuance of acting and the big picture of masterminding productions. He liked playing side characters and playing with compositions and choreography. He didn't want the same spotlight that Kurt longed for.

He got along with Kurt's roommates but didn't want to be their best friend. They kept fairly separate lives. The Apples were quickly becoming Kurt's friends, but Adam had other friends from classes that Kurt had barely met.

*

They hadn't had sex yet, but Kurt knew it was only a matter of time. Adam made him feel simultaneously safe and wanted, and he was so attractive and charming Kurt sometimes still couldn't believe how easily they'd gotten together. Kurt had taken a long time to work up to being a sexual being, but he'd taken to it once he got there. He couldn't imagine sex with Adam being anything but fulfilling and he couldn't wait.

He didn't love Adam yet, but he was confident he wouldn't regret having sex with him no matter how their relationship worked out.

Kurt was proud of himself for waiting to have sex until it meant something, but he sometimes wished he'd valued his virginity a bit less. At the time, it had been a serious, heartfelt gift to a man he loved and wanted to spend a very long time with. Looking back, it was something that felt like it had been thrown back in his face, especially because Blaine had broken his heart using sex.

Kurt honestly hadn't **expected** to be cheated on, but it had always been distressingly easy to imagine it happening, even before Sebastian came into the picture. It wasn't that it was hard to picture Adam hurting him. In some ways, how quickly he was falling for Adam was more dangerous than all his old crushes put together because Adam was the first man he liked that pursued _him_. It was distressingly easy to picture something tearing their relationship apart, but Kurt couldn't actually picture Adam cheating on him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...dates are hard

**Author's Note:**

> Also I don't know how Forums work.


End file.
